Trying to Buy Something on eBay

For Christmas, I’m trying to find some more blocks for my son. He received some mega bloks (the mini size) for his birthday and I have been able to find one size container in the stores but they are pretty pricey.

So, I’ve been searching eBay. It seems as though I’m not the only one trying to get those blocks. Whether you search for Lego, Tyco or Mega Bloks (they all work together for this particular size) the bids are getting up there.

Making them even more expensive is the shipping. Most things cost over $10.00 to ship and some even go up to $20.00 depending on how many blocks there are.

Things looked a little better when I just tried searching “Mega Blocks” instead of “Mega Bloks” (bloks is the correct spelling for the brand). I read about that trick once to search different spellings. But there are more irrelevant results to sift through.

Anyone have any other tips for finding those hidden “gems”?

Posted by Tricia on November 28, 2006 at 7:26 PM in Saving Money, Spending Money | 8 Comments »
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Dawn responded:
Posted: November 28th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Hi Tricia,

I know this dilemma well! I like to surf around to the big toy store sites and other big merchandisers to look for free shipping deals. Sometimes they offer free shipping on specific items or brands or sometimes there is a minimum purchase requirement to qualify for a free shipping offer. I like http://www.walmart.com because they have a lot of items with $0.97 shipping.

I also try to check http://www.currentcodes.com when I am considering an online purchase. I have found useful coupon codes for various websites on there in the past. I have been checking the big black friday site http://www.gottadeal.com/ because if the the deal is really really good, the shipping cost doesnt matter as much to me.

You are a very saavy shopper and probably already knew of my cyber shopping strategies, but I thought I would share anyway
3 things about money responded:
Posted: November 28th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
I concur with the looking for the free shipping deals at walmart or amazon. Ebay sellers often charge hefty shipping and it’s hard to sort through everything. Just a little bias of mine, I find that people with the highest feedback levels have better shipping rates, more in line with what it really costs. Good luck.
Mandi responded:
Posted: November 28th, 2006 at 10:43 pm
http://www.fatfingers.com and http://www.honesty.com are two web sites that are said to search eBay for your desired item with quite a few spelling mistakes. I personally haven’t used it, but did a small search on Diamond and was surprised with some of the missspellings.

Good luck.
MOMM responded:
Posted: November 29th, 2006 at 11:41 am
I’ve had the same problem with toys I’m looking at on eBay. I did end up buying a couple of things from Toys R Us online because using Google Checkout allowed me to save $10. Amazon is good for the free shipping too.
Maria responded:
Posted: November 29th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Try Big Lots.
Mandi responded:
Posted: November 29th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
I thought I had seen some in KB Toys.
Blogging Away Debt » Blog Archive » A Few Miscellaneous Updates responded:
Posted: December 2nd, 2006 at 7:18 pm
[...] 1.) I won an auction on eBay for Mega Bloks! I was so excited. I’m paying more for them than I would ever spend at a garage sale…but my son just loves the blocks he has and there isn’t quite enough for mom and dad to make something too. [...]
Bette responded:
Posted: September 4th, 2007 at 6:36 am
provides many good stores like Toys r Us, Disney shopping, children place which offers many online discounts, coupon codes and free shipping coupons. Try this one…..